


The Final Day

by ZhurrickTea (GamblingDementor)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 22:05:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4641861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamblingDementor/pseuds/ZhurrickTea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How the siege of Ba Sing Se ended. Iroh's grief.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Final Day

"And then he answers Leaf me alone, I'm bushed!"

 

All the high ranked officers present in the officers tent burst out laughing, General Iroh louder than the rest of them. The first battle of the day has been won earlier than expected, bringing considerable progress for their great nation. The war isn't over by any measure, but with each breath he takes, with each littlest sparkle coming out of him, he feels closer to the end of the siege than the beginning. The men have taken to spending the nights together over hot tea and roasted duck, rejoicing over the victory soon to come.

 

Suddenly, a front line soldier who looks freshly off the ships from the Fire Nation barges into the tent, almost tearing the flaps in her haste. Iroh smiles at her inexperience. There is something in the bloom of youth that has always warmed his heart. She straightens herself, notices all eyes on her, and bows deeply in apology, so low that her nose looks like it could touch the ground with just a little bit more effort. Iroh would clap if he felt there wasn't some urging matter she must be here to convey.

 

"Excuse me, General, it's just… I was sent to tell you the honorable Commander Lu Ten from the fourth division… He's…"

 

She tries to keep her voice unwavering, but the emotion is shaking her words. At once, Iroh's heart clenches with apprehension. He lifts up his hand to silence her. She bows once more, her eyes going left and right nervously, and even with angst filling his chest by the second, he feels for the poor girl. No one likes to be the bearer of ill news, and he fears this may be the worst news ever gotten.

 

"Give this soldier a cup of jasmine tea," he commands the nearest officer, a tall lieutenant who was born in the colonies, a semi-foreigner he's learned to trust, like all his men. Yet all of them look foreign to him now, none of them look like someone who could help and comfort him. 

 

"General Iroh, may I…" he starts, but Iroh stops him.

 

"I will be going alone."

 

The fields that were his comfort and pride not an hour ago when he walked back to the high officers tent for dinner now feel queer and foreign. Soldiers and low officers alike bow to him as he passes through the divisions. He feels unease behind their eyes, a discomfort that mirrors the growing fear seeping into his heart.

 

The fourth division gives him way the moment they spot him, a thick mass of soldiers gathered around the commander's personal tent, their heads down and no smile turning their lips. Iroh progresses through the parting crowd, his steps slow and careful as if keeping his foot secure and steady would somehow change what he fears has happened. His hand is shaking when he pulls the tent flap open and there it is, there he is. 

 

"Lu Ten…" he whispers.

 

Laid down on his mat, where they sat together not three nights ago for a quiet game of paisho after a long day of battle, his beloved Lu Ten, his flesh and blood, a crown prince of the Fire Nation, lies lifeless. His eyes have been closed modestly and to foreigners he might look like he's in slumber, but Iroh knows the truth of it. He's known since the soldier entered the tent.

 

"My son is dead…"

 

His voice doesn't sound like his. How could the mighty General Iroh, leader of the great siege of Ba Sing Se, let out such a broken nothing of a voice?

 

"What…" a sob shakes his body. "What happened to my son?"

 

His hands hover over Lu Ten's body, craving to hug him but not quite daring. An officer steps forward. Through his great, Iroh recognizes his son's second-in-command, a sturdy honest man who was Lu Ten's closest friend.

 

"There was an attack from the walls, General Iroh. About twenty benders threw rocks down the outer wall. We lost several good men."

 

Good?  _Good doesn't even begin to describe my son_ , Iroh thinks.

 

"Did you try the flames of life?" he asks, desperate, but knows the answer.

 

"Yes, General Iroh. I'm afraid it was too late."

 

Tears are rolling down his cheeks and he sees no point in wiping them away. The grief of a Fire Nation prince should be for all to see.

 

"Waterbenders," the thought comes to him. "They have healing powers. Have we got a waterbender in the camp?"

 

" _Water_ benders? Goodness, no."

 

"Then we have truly lost him."

 

Bent over the man who was his beautiful son with his strong wits and his devoted heart, Iroh loses it all. Sobs after sobs shake his entire body, tearing through his soul, while the soldiers stand by and avert their eyes. Memories come back to him of Lu Ten taking his first steps, learning the basic forms of firebending, joining the Fire Nation army, leading his first regiment into battle… But Iroh's mind then gets flooded with the now last times in Lu Ten's short life, the last time he had tea with his father (this morning when all the high ranked officers discussed strategy), the last time they hugged (after that meeting, when they parted ways for the battle), the last time they were in their own land together (years ago, for Zuko's royal eighth birthday), the last letter he sent him (when he was still on another front in the Western Earth Kingdom), the last time Iroh told him he loved him (last week when they had dinner together over a failed operation after which Lu Ten needed reassurance)…

 

Iroh gazes down at his son and knows nothing else matters, nothing outside his loss. The grief and mourning is what pumps into his heart now. The great General of the Fire Nation sat next to Commander Lu Ten's body, but Iroh stands up and leaves his son's tent to announce that the siege is over.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, if you read this and enjoyed it, consider leaving a comment to tell me what you liked :) It really means the world to get feedback.


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